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The Batman Meets Doctor Death
The Batman Meets Doctor Death chronicles the first meeting of the Batman and Karl Hellfern, aka Doctor Death. In June 1939, Doctor Karl Hellfern finally completed an experimental poison which is to be delivered by pollen extract. His plan was to exact "tribute from the wealthy of the world", under threat of death. Hellfern's only concern is the Bat-Man, who at this time had risen to legendary status in Gotham City. Hellfern feared a crime of this magnitude would attract the Batman's attention, and decided to find out his secret identity. Hellfern put out an ad in the daily newspapers, which read: : Batman. If you will go to General Post Office and ask for a letter addressed to John Jones you will find a message of vital importance. The next morning, upon reading the ad, socialite Bruce Wayne hurried to the Post Office to gather the letter, which luckily hadn't been gathered by anyone else. The letter read: : Batman - At 10 P.M. tonight at suite B on the 14th floor of the Beverly Apts I will commit a murder and I defy you without the aid of the police to stop me.. When Wayne returned home at 8:00 P.M., he gathered his Batman costume from a small chest, as well as gas pellets and suction gloves and kneepads. At 8:30 P.M., the Batman sped towards the Beverly Apartments, arriving there a few minutes before 9 P.M. After parking his car at a construction site, the Batman climbed the building up to the penthouse, only to be met by Hellfern's thugs. The Batman made quick work of the thugs, threatening them with death if they did not tell him who sent them. He was surprised by Hellfern's Indian manservant, Jabah, who shot him in the shoulder, telling the Batman that Doctor Death sent his greetings. Surprising Jabah with his gas pellet, the Batman managed to escape the encounter. After dressing the wound in his car, Wayne called the Daily Globe from a phone booth to insert a notice in the paper: :: I accept your challenge, Doctor Death. The Batman and went to the family doctor to dress his wound properly, saying to the suspicious doctor that he had shot himself. The next morning Hellfern raged against his thugs, then sent Jabah after the rich John P. van Smith who had refused to pay extortion money. Accidentally walking by Bruce Wayne's car, Wayne witnessed Jabah blowing Hellfern's poison pollen towards van Smith. Swiftly saving van Smith's life by stopping him from breathing in the poison, Wayne followed Jabah to Hellfern's home. That night the Batman broke in to the second floor of Hellfern's mansion, where he found Hellfern and Jabah in a laboratory. Strangling Jabah with his lasso, the Batman went for Hellfern. However, Hellfern escaped down a secret hatch with the Batman in tow. Relentlessly pursued by the Batman, Hellfern returned to the laboratory and aimed a test tube of highly flammable liquid towards the Batman. Throwing a fire extinguisher on Hellfern, the tube dropped and set Hellfern and the laboratory on fire. Laughing through the pain that the Batman was a fool, he dryly replied: "You are the poor fool! He has gone mad. Death... To Doctor Death!"